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Michigan House winner says he will seek a federal data-center pause
Wired interviewed representative-elect Will Lawrence of Michigan's 7th District, who said he will push a federal data-center moratorium and a pause on advanced AI development after unseating Republican Tom Barrett.
Will Lawrence, the Democrat who unseated Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan's 7th Congressional District this week, told Wired he will seek a federal moratorium on data centers and a pause on advanced AI development when he takes office in January1.
Wired's Molly Taft described Lawrence as a former Democratic Socialists of America member who helped found the Sunrise Movement and who made opposition to data centers a campaign theme months before many other candidates, winning a primary against better-funded opponents1.
Wired said the general-election contest was among the most expensive House races in the country and that Elon Musk's America PAC spent $340,000 against Lawrence1. Those spending figures were not independently verified here.
Lawrence told Wired that voter concerns about costs and corruption mapped onto data centers, citing tax breaks, water use, grid demand, and home values1. "They're taking tax breaks, they're sucking up water," he said of the projects1.
He said communities that tried local oversight had been challenged in court by Silicon Valley companies, a claim presented as his account, not as a court record in the interview1.
Asked about recent tech-company pledges on transparency, water use, and nondisclosure agreements, including commitments Wired said OpenAI issued the day after the election, Lawrence said he had not seen the specific proposals and that what companies had offered so far was inadequate1. He said he had not spoken to any of the companies1.
Lawrence described a proposed hyperscale project in Delhi Township, south of Lansing, announced in the week before the election by a local economic development agency and a developer, with a promised six-month community process1. He said a township emergency meeting overflowed, with about 250 people, and that residents still opposed the project1.
On federal policy, he said he would fight for a data-center moratorium and a pause on advanced AI development because, in his view, the risks did not match the benefits1. Asked whether that would resemble a pause Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed, contingent on AI safety rules, Lawrence said yes and that safety should include not sacrificing people and the planet to build data centers1.
He also said Congress should use oversight and that companies developing systems they describe as carrying catastrophic risk should face investigations and lawsuits under consumer-protection standards1. Wired did not include a response from Barrett, from data-center developers, or from the companies Lawrence named1.
